Elysabeth Skywalker
by ElysabethSkywalker
Summary: The story of Elysabeth Skywalker and the the Jedi. mostly ObiWan, Anakin, Yoda etc... Follows the stories of the prequels more or less. Slightly AU because of Elizabeth. We are up and running! Thanks to IncomCorporation! FORMERLY THE OTHER SKYWALKER!
1. Chapter 1

_Welcome all to our little corner of a Galaxy far, far away. This is RhiannonAmidala here, what you are about to read is the joint story of myself (RA) and __IncomCorporation (IC). She's done most of the writing so far, except the part in bold in this chapter. Mostly I've helped her with editing etc... though she didn't really need it... :-D _

_We do NOT own Starwars. Needless to say we would not be reduced to writing Fanfiction if we did._

_Elysabeth IS ours though. :-D_

_Enjoy  
_

* * *

Chapter 1

**The dust storm drove sand into Elysabeth Skywalker's eyes as she struggled home from Watto's shop. She hoped to goodness Ani had gone straight home. He probably had. He wasn't the type to get stuck in a storm. Luckily for him, Watto had let him off early! 'Unusual to have a dust storm so close on the heels of the last one' she mused.**

**She reached the door of the hovel, and shaking the sand out of her clothing as best she could, she stepped into the small hut. She stopped in surprise when she heard a deep, calm voice answer her mother.**

"_**Your son met us on the street, and offered us shelter," his voice was soothing and confident; she liked the sound.**_

_**From Anakin's room came the sounds of his childish voice explaining to someone about C-3PO, the protocol droid he was building.**_

_**The voice that answered him was the voice, she guessed, of a girl about her own age; "He's wonderful"**_

**As she shook herself, the vision faded, and she heard her mother, Shmi Skywalker, welcome her home.**

"**Is Ani home yet?" Elysabeth asked.**

"**No, not yet. He met some of his friends and they went to one of their houses." Elysabeth nodded and moved towards the door of the room she shared with her mother.**

"**Mom," she asked, "Do you ever get the feeling that something big is going to happen the way Anakin and I do?"**

"**Not really. Why?"**

"**I don't really know. But it is good, and it's coming soon." She answered, hugging her mother, and then walking into her room.**

**Shmi watched her tall daughter as she went about doing various small tasks. Elysabeth Skywalker, it was rumoured, was no mere human. It was said she was an Angel from the moons of Iego. Indeed there was some truth in these speculations. By the will of the Force, she had been born a fatherless child to Shmi Skywalker, fifteen years ago.**

**Now, she was easily the most beautiful girl in the neighbourhood. She was tall and lithe; her features were strong, like those of her mother and brother. Her eyes had been the same grey-blue as Anakin's, but had darkened slightly over the years and her hair, which hung in rippling cascades just past her shoulders, was the same colour as her mothers.**

**As Elysabeth moved restlessly about the room, she heard the sounds of the storm cease, and walking to the door and opening it, she saw Anakin running towards the hovel.**

She stepped back and Anakin sped in past her, taking several steps to lose his momentum; "I'm home!" he bellowed.

"So I see and now the rest of this miserable sand ball knows too!" she answered with her hands over her ears.

"Must you always shout so loud?" their mother put in from across the room, "we're not deaf, although we will be if you keep that up." Anakin looked towards his feet and mumbled something inaudible. "Dinner's almost ready; so go and wash up" his mother told him, seeming to translate the mumble as an apology.

"I ate at Kitster's house. I got some more parts for my droid; can I go and work on him?"Anakin's enthusiasm was back full force; Elysabeth smiled, nothing kept her brother down for long.

"Fine," their mother sighed, she seemed to agree with Elysabeth's sentiments "but lights out when I call!" she raised her voice slightly at the end because Anakin had already disappeared through the door to his bedroom and she received no reply. "What am I going to do with him?" Elysabeth caught her mother's murmur, turning she saw that Shmi was smiling at the door which had shut after her son and shaking her head, Elysabeth's smile broadened as she returned to her previous task.

_

"Do you have any idea what this is going to cost me, boy? Do you have any idea at all? Oba chee ka!"

Watto was yelling at Anakin, again, he seemed to spend a lot of time doing that. This time it was about a Podrace Anakin had just lost.

"It wasn't my fault. Sebulba flashed me with his port vents and nearly smashed me into Metta Drop. He cheated" Elysabeth winced, Watto would not like having Anakin answer back, and their mother was already against Anakin racing without the knowledge that Sebulba kept trying to kill him.

They were stood in Watto's shop, it was cool and shadowy but even here the dust hung in hazy streamers. It was evening and the race had long since ended, Anakin and the damaged Pod and the one remaining engine had been returned to the shop and Watto was furious.

Elysabeth stood to one side next to her mother, her face expressionless like those of her mother and 9 year old brother.

She tuned out, she had heard Watto yelling before and since he wasn't yelling at her she wasn't interested in the colourful Huttese he was hurling at her brother.

She was curious as to what had really happened, Anakin had taken the lead at the start of the race, so what had gone wrong?

_An image came to her mind; she was sat in the Podracer plummeting over Metta drop, her stomach lurched, she didn't envy Anakin his piloting skills. _

_The Podracer was level with two others; she recognised the split-X of Sebulba's engines and Rimkar's strange bubble Pod. _

_Sebulba pulled out of the drop and Elysabeth felt surprise that wasn't hers, then the Pod shuddered and the surprise was replaced by understanding as the Pod lifted out of the drop and nearly collided with Sebulba. She was vaguely aware of Rimkar's Pod being slammed into the mountain and exploding into fiery rain, then her brother's hands were before her adjusting the steering pulling back on the thrusters and cutting the fuel to the massive engines as the ground rose up to meet her. _

She pulled herself back to the present with a conscious effort; Watto was now arguing with her mother about whether or not Anakin would race again, Shmi seemed to be winning.

So that was what had happened. For some reason she couldn't explain, even to herself, she didn't doubt that it was true, but at the same time she didn't think Watto would care very much.

"You will fix everything you ruined boy!" Watto was beginning to conclude his yelling session; he probably had a sore throat.

Elysabeth continued to ignore him until his words affected her too: "Get on with it, all of you! Back to work, back to work!" her mother smiled at them, "Go on, dinner will be waiting" then she and Watto turned and left the shop.

Anakin just stood there, in the middle of the steadily darkening shop, staring at nothing. Elysabeth also paused, considering her brother; she could tell he was thinking about the race, about how he shouldn't have lost, that next time he would win. She didn't need to question him to know this; she was good at understanding people, particularly her bother, sometimes, she pondered, it was as though she could hear what he was thinking. She was broken out of her reverie by Anakin's sigh; he turned and left the shop. After he was gone she remained were she was a moment longer, engrossed in her thoughts, before, like her brother, she sighed and returned to her work.

_

"Mum!" Elysabeth called as she entered the hovel, "Has Anakin come home yet?" her mother's concerned face appeared at the doorway to their bedroom

"I thought he was with you!"

Elysabeth sighed; this was so like him, "He sneaked out through a gap in the fence. He must be with his friends"

Shmi frowned "When I get hold of him..."she muttered darkly before turning to the kitchen to continue preparing dinner, Elysabeth turned away to hide her grin as she headed to the bathroom to wash up before helping her mother with the food.

_

It was long after dark when Elysabeth opened the door to see Anakin returning home, smiling slightly, he caught sight of her and the smile vanished, _"Uh Oh!_" seemed to echo through her head as her mother appeared beside her; "And just where have you been?"

_

Elysabeth lay on her back gazing up at the stars, dinner had been a quiet meal for both brother and sister as their mother had slowly exhausted the things she had to say to her son about his behaviour. Thinking back on it, Elysabeth had to admit that it had been an impressively long list. She glanced sideways at her brother, "So where were you?"

There was a brief pause before Anakin quietly responded "Kitster, Wald and I went to get ruby bliels"

"You had a ruby bliel and didn't invite me!"

Anakin ignored her accusation and continued "We met an old Republic Spacer."

"Republic? Wow, don't see many of those out here."

Again Anakin ignored her and continued in the same soft voice "He told us about all the places he's been and all the things he's done. He said he'd flown with Jedi knights and he'd done the Kessel Run. He said he thought that maybe I could fly the big ships one day, he said I'm good enough." There was another pause, Elysabeth turned to see her brother still gazing at the stars. He smiled slowly, "One day I'm going to do everything he's done. Everything." He exhaled and Elysabeth got the impression he was sealing a promise to himself, she felt concerned for a while before shrugging it off and returning her gaze to the stars.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_The walls floor and ceiling of the room were metallic and like no others she had ever seen, there was a table and chairs in the centre of the room, not so very unusual in their design but shiny and new-looking telling her that wherever she was, she wasn't on Tatooine. Her attention was caught by some sort of colourful bird-like creatures caged near the door. _

"_I have a bad feeling about this." A slightly accented voice spoke softly behind her, she span around to see two men in brown cloaks looking out through a window. She stopped in shock and never heard the taller man's reply. She was in Space! Through the window she could see a vast number of round ships, they consisted of a sphere encircled by a broken ring and they appeared to be in orbit over a beautiful blue and green planet. She gasped; she had never seen anything so beautiful in her life! _

_The same voice as before broke into her thoughts and drew her attention back to the two men stood at the window. "It's not about here, Master. It's not about the mission. It's something... elsewhere. Something elusive..."_

"_Don't centre on your anxiety, Obi-wan. Keep your concentration on the here and now where it belongs." She had heard that voice before she was sure of it. _

"_Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future-"_

"_But not at the expense of the present" Where had she heard that voice? "Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan." Padawan? This Obi-wan was a Padawan? These two men were Jedi? "Yes Master."Obi-wan turned to look out through the window again "How do you think the viceroy will deal with the supreme chancellor's demands?" _

_The older man shrugged, he was tall and had long brown hair, some of which was pulled back into a ponytail, and the rest was allowed to hang loosely down to his shoulders. He did not seem very concerned. "These people are cowards. They will not be hard to persuade. The negotiations will be short."_

"Wake up, Lazy head!" her mother stole the covers from her bed. Elysabeth groaned and rolled over.

"Okay, okay, I'm up!" the covers returned and instantly tangled her up in them so she fell out of bed and hit the dusty floor hard.

"Breakfast in ten minutes!" her mother called leaving the room. Elysabeth groaned, today was going to be a bad day, she could just tell.

_

"Wait up Ani!"

It was lunch time and Elysabeth was racing her brother home, he was winning, again.

They burst through the front door and Elysabeth suddenly realised! "That was where I recognised his voice from!" the man in her dream had been the same one who had sought shelter at their hovel, she had heard his voice a few days ago!

"Whose voice?" her mother questioned, her brother looked as if he had been about to ask the same thing.

"Oh, I had a dream last night and I recognised one of the voices, I just realised where I heard it before"

"Fine, but I'll take a 'Hello Mum! What's for dinner?' in future."

"Yes Mum." Shmi didn't like it when her daughter dreamt; the dreams had an uncanny knack of coming true. Like the time she had dreamt about Anakin being injured in a crash in a Podrace and the next day he had crashed and broken his arm. Elysabeth shuddered at the memory, then brightened; "What is for lunch?"

_

"Peedunkel! Naba dee unko!" Elysabeth barely heard the call, looking across she could see that heard brother had not.

"Go! Watto is calling you!" she called urgently. He looked up then bounced away and disappeared into the shop. Elysabeth shook her head than returned her attention to her task.

Shortly afterward however she heard voices approaching; "Ah, here it is! A T-14 Hyperdrive generator!" she glanced up and stopped short. That was the man from her dream!

She straightened and stood there staring until Watto's harsh voice jerked her out of her thoughts. "Girl! Go fetch the T-14 hyperdrive generator!" she jumped like a startled womp rat and scuttled off to find it, her mind racing. Had her dream been real then? Was this man a Jedi?

By the time she had located the generator and fetched a hover sled to move it with and returned the man was nowhere to be found.

Watto emerged from the shop and glared at her. "Help your brother tidy the shelves then you can go home."

_

"Storm's coming! It'll be a long one this time I think, might last all night." Anakin didn't seem to be listening, he was craning his neck scanning the crowds for someone, and then he raced off without a word.

"Ani!" She sighed and took up chase; "he ought to at least have said "Ready, Set, Go!" first!" she thought grumpily then came to a stop beside Anakin who was helping a strange alien to his feet.

She stared at her brother in confusion. "Hi!" turning she realised he was talking to the man who had been at the shop and a girl of about her own age with dark brown braids falling to her waist and pretty brown eyes. "Your buddy here was about to be turned into orange goo. He picked a fit with a Dug. An especially dangerous Dug."

"Nossir, nossir! Me hate crunchen. Tis da last thing me want!" Elysabeth turned her attention to the alien, he was tall and thin and seemed to move with an almost elegant clumsiness, as if he had always been that way, his skin appeared rubbery and she guessed that he hated the heat and sand of Tatooine. He had an elongated head atop a long neck and what she supposed were his ears hung down over his back.

"Nevertheless, the boy saved you from a beating. You have a penchant for finding trouble Jar Jar. Thank you, my young friend." The Jedi addressed first the alien, whose name was apparently Jar Jar, then her brother.

"Me doen nutten!" Jar Jar protested.

"You were afraid," Anakin explained, "Fear attracts the fearful. Sebulba was trying to overcome his fear by squashing you. You can help yourself by being less afraid."

"And that works for you?" the girl asked sceptically, drawing Elysabeth's attention for the first time. She didn't know anything about this girl, she was the only one in the group she knew nothing about; she had already identified their droid as an R2 unit.

"Well... up to a point." Anakin replied grinning.

"Yeah, not so effective against Mum." Elysabeth spoke up for the first time and the eyes of the whole group turned towards her. "Hi, I'm Elysabeth. I see you've already met my brother Anakin." She turned to the rest of the group and continued her introductions.

"You," she addressed the alien "are apparently named Jar Jar." She turned, smiling slightly, from the look of amazement on his aquatic face to the droid, "you are an R2 unit," the droid beeped an affirmative, "I'm afraid I don't know anything about you" the girl smiled seeming quite relieved about this, "and you..."she paused, she didn't think it would be a good idea to go shouting about him being a Jedi in the middle of Mos Espa Way, "you have a friend named Obi-Wan." The tall man had been wearing an expression of amusement as she used knowledge gained from their conversation to introduce his companions, but this changed to a look of utter confusion and astonishment as he realised there was no way she could know about Obi-Wan.

Anakin, apparently oblivious to this, happily filled the gap in her knowledge; "This is Padmé!" He told her excitedly. Elysabeth didn't need to know her brother inside out to tell that he was already quite taken with this Padmé.

_

At Anakin's insistence they crossed to a fruit stand and Anakin bought pallies for his new friends. Rolling her eyes at her brother Elysabeth covered the cost of two more pallies, one for herself and one for Anakin.

Jira, the stall owner, informed them that a storm was coming, which Elysabeth already knew. It was agreed that the strangers should come home with Anakin and Elysabeth in order to avoid it; it was too far to their ship on the outskirts

Elysabeth stopped. The first time she'd heard that man's voice was when she had returned home during the last sand storm! He had been seeking shelter at her home!

"Beth! Come on!" Her brother's voice jerked her out of her thoughts and she ran to catch up with the group.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Elysabeth was helping her mother prepare dinner. The Jedi, who had introduced himself as Qui-Gon, had provided the food and was now having a conversation over his comlink in the corner of the room. Padmé and Anakin were in the other room and Elysabeth was keeping a close watch on Jar Jar, who was currently arguing with Artoo.

"Elysabeth, may I speak with you for a moment?" Qui-Gon had finished his comm. conversation. Elysabeth glanced at her mother before nodding and following him back to the same corner the Jedi had previously occupied.

"How did you know about Obi-Wan?" He asked quietly.

Elysabeth glanced towards her mother before lowering her voice to reply. "I had a dream last night. You and Obi-Wan were stood beside a window on a spaceship. I know his name because you called him by it. He mentioned having a bad feeling about something. You told him not to centre on his anxiety; he said someone called Master Yoda had told him to be mindful of the future. Then you spoke of your mission "The Supreme Chancellor's demands" and that the people were cowards so negotiations would be short. Then I woke up."

Having finished her explanation, Elysabeth looked up at Qui-Gon fearfully; would he be angry about her dream? He looked as though he were considering her and all she had said. She lost her fear as he realised he wasn't angry with her and glanced again at her mother, relieved to see that it appeared Shmi had not heard what had been said.

"How long ago was this dream exactly? How many hours ago did you wake from it?"

Elysabeth paused, and then glanced at the chronometer on the wall. "About seven hours ago. Why?" she was curious as to the reason why he was asking such a strange question. The Jedi did not reply but muttered something to himself that Elysabeth could not hear.

The silence became uncomfortable for Elysabeth, who fell to studying the scuffed toecaps of her ill-fitting boots before Qui-Gon broke it with a new question. "What made you think your dream was real?"

Elysabeth stopped. How did she know? She'd never stopped to think about it before.

"I guess because I'd heard you voice before" she began hesitantly, "as I was walking though the front door a few days ago. I heard you talking to my mother, and Anakin and Padmé talking about Threepio, but there was no one here." She shrugged. "That and the fact that and the fact that my dreams are often real."

"Your dreams are often real?" Qui-Gon repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, that's why Mum doesn't like it when I dream."

Qui-Gon's thoughtful look returned. "What kind of things do you dream about?"

"All sorts" Elysabeth replied shrugging again. "Sometimes they are just dreams, other times the dreams are like real life, or at least parts of them are, those are often real."

Qui-Gon said nothing in response to this, so Elysabeth decided to ask him some questions of her own. "You're a Jedi, aren't you? In my dream you called Obi-Wan your Padawan."

Qui-Gon's eyes seamed to twinkle, as if he were laughing. "I am, but it'd be best if you didn't tell anyone."

She nodded, smiling. There was something about this man that made her trust him. She turned to leave but he stopped her. "Can you give me an example of one of your dreams?"

Glancing again towards her mother she lowered her voice even further "Last year I dreamt that Anakin would be injured in a Podrace, a week later he crashed in a race and broke his arm." Elysabeth shuddered at the memory. "After the crash, before we knew... those were the worst moments of my life."

Qui-Gon nodded, understanding and sympathetic before asking his next question. "Do you dream about good things too?"

Elysabeth gave him a look before replying. "Not much happens in the life of a slave that's good enough to be worth dreaming about, most of the good things are small." She paused. "When we were owned by Gardulla the Hutt I had a dream that we were owned by a Toydarian. The next day Gardulla lost us to Watto betting on the Podraces. Not a happy memory as such, but Watto is a much better master"

Qui-Gon looked thoughtful. Elysabeth quietly reflected that Qui-Gon did thoughtful rather well. He smiled. "Do I? I never really noticed."

"I'm sorry?" Elysabeth asked feeling confused. Had he read her thoughts?

"You just said that I did thoughtful rather well." Qui-Gon said, looking as confused as Elysabeth felt.

Elysabeth shook her head "You must have been reading my thoughts Master Jedi."

Qui-Gon looked startled and hurriedly apologised. "I'm sorry, I... It was quite unintentional, Milady."

"It's okay," Elysabeth assured him. She didn't like to see calm people like Qui-Gon flustered, it always made her panic. "Sometimes, I can hear people's thoughts too." She admitted, trying to reassure him.

It did at least have the desired effect; "You can?" he asked her sharply.

"Yeah, just little things." She replied taken aback by his sharp tone and the measuring look he was now giving her.

"Like?" He prompted, without changing his tone.

"Umm... Anakin came home late, he knew he was in trouble and I heard "Uh Oh!" It's just things like that." She answered him hesitantly, wondering again if she was in trouble.

Qui-Gon, however, had returned to looking thoughtful. "Hmm... you said that you heard my voice during the last sandstorm, yet I was not on Tatooine. Could it have been someone else's voice you heard?"

"No." Elysabeth answered firmly, shaking her head. "The voice came from inside, but my mother was the only one here."

Qui-Gon seemed to consider this before asking "You have visions that are similar to your dreams, don't you?"

"Yeah" Elysabeth shrugged again; her shoulders were getting a lot of exercise in this conversation. "But sometimes I can control them. Like when Anakin crashed in the last race; I wondered what happened and I saw."

Qui-Gon smiled, "And what _did_ happen?"

Elysabeth jumped into defensive at this; "It wasn't his fault! Sebulba cheated! If Anakin wasn't such a good pilot he'd have gone the same way as Rimkar!"

At this Qui-Gon's eyebrows raised. "What happened to Rimkar?"

"He got smeared down Metta Drop." Elysabeth shuddered at the thought that that could have been her baby brother too.

There was a pause, Elysabeth caught in her thoughts, Qui-Gon studying her closely. It was broken by Qui-Gon. "I would very much like to know-"

"Dinner's ready!" He never finished his sentence.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The winds of the storm were still howling outside as they ate their dinner in near silence.

Elysabeth was sat next to her mother on one of the side of the table with Qui-Gon on her other side at the head of the table and Jar Jar opposite her. Anakin had the seat next to Jar Jar and Padmé occupied the end of the table.

Anakin, in the way of small boys began talking about their life as slaves, in no way embarrassed to be doing so, thinking of it only as a fact of his existence and eager to share himself with his new friends.

"Your sister tells me you race Pods." Qui-Gon stated, as Anakin finally paused for breath.

"Not any more he doesn't!" Shmi quickly put in, looking meaningfully at her son as his face split into a wide grin.

At this Anakin's face fell slightly, "Yeah, I crashed in the last race and Watto was mad, he says I can't race anymore." The boy shrugged and grinned as he went on. "I managed to save the Pod, mostly, so it won't be long before I have it repaired and Watto forgets that I'm not supposed to race for him."

"Ani, I think Watto will get someone else to race for him now"

Anakin looked somewhat taken aback by the almost desperate note in his mother's voice and turned to his sister for help. Elysabeth sighed, "Mum, we all know Watto would never pay someone else to race for him, when he can have Anakin do it for free. I'm not happy about him racing either," she added quickly, "but I can't let you get your hopes up like that."

There was an uncomfortable pause which was broken by Padmé. "What's a Podrace?"

"Dangerous!" Came the reply, simultaneously from both Shmi and Elysabeth.

Anakin gave them a withering look before turning eagerly to Padmé. "Podracing is what it sounds like; you race Pods around a track. Everyone here goes to watch, it's totally wizard! But winning a race makes you famous and there's lots of prize money, that's why people like Sebulba cheat."

Padmé looked confused. "How do you cheat in a race?"

Anakin shrugged, "Lots of ways. He's got me with most of his tricks, or I've seen him get someone else, I know to watch for them now. He'll cut the cables attaching the Pod to the engines, or pour fire on your engines making the fuel ignite. Or something like what he did to Rimkar and me in the last race; he used his exhaust to try to slam us into Metta drop. Most of Sebulba's victims, like Rimkar, don't race again. That's why Sebulba hate's me so much. That and the fact that I'm not only the youngest racer, I'm also human, and if he didn't cheat I could beat him."

Padmé looked shocked at this but Qui-Gon spoke up before she could. "They have Podracing on Malastare. Very fast. Very dangerous. You must have Jedi reflexes if you race Pods."

Jar Jar's tongue shot out towards a bowl of fruit and Qui-Gon caught it between his finger and thumb before Elysabeth even registered that he had moved. Jar Jar froze, his mouth open, his tongue held fast, his eyes wide. "Don't do that again." Qui-Gon advised, an edge to his soft voice. Qui-Gon released the Gungan's tongue and Anakin's hesitant voice broke the ensuing silence.

"I was wondering something" Qui-Gon nodded for him to continue. Elysabeth looked up sharply, she knew what he was about to say, but how had he known? Suddenly she was outside in brilliant sunshine counting trugets beside Jira's stall, she dropped one and Qui-Gon bent to retrieve it. Then she saw it! A lightsaber hung from his belt!

"You're a Jedi, aren't you?" her brother's voice pulled her back to the present.

"What makes you think that?" Qui-Gon asked, leaning back in his chair.

"He saw your lightsaber." Elysabeth supplied before her brother could say anything.

"How did you know that?" Anakin demanded, "I didn't tell you!"

"I think the question," Qui-Gon broke across Anakin's tirade, "is how long have you known?" Elysabeth glanced nervously around her eyes settling on Qui-Gon. "Since Anakin said he was wondering something."

There was a deathly silence around the table and the sand thrown against the window by the storm outside suddenly sounded very loud.

"And why did you find out?"

Elysabeth shot a guilty look at her brother before answering. "I knew what he was about to say and I wondered how he knew."

The others looked confused but Qui-Gon had returned to thoughtful; he really did do thoughtful very well. "When you want to see something do you only see the past or can you see the future too?"

Elysabeth stared at him. What a strange question! "Only the past, though sometimes I can see the present if I really concentrate."

She wondered where the Jedi was going with his strange questions and if he really had to ask them when everyone was listening. They had stopped eating and were staring at the two of them, not even bothering to hide their curiosity.

"Do you see things when you don't try to?"

Elysabeth shook her head "I hear things, but I don't see."

There was another pause. "Can you tell me why we're here?"

At this point Anakin broke in trying to lighten the mood. "Because there's a sandstorm!"

Qui-Gon chuckled. "True, but that doesn't explain how we came to be on Tatooine."

"Easy," replied Elysabeth following her brother's lead, "you need a new T-14 Hyperdrive generator!"

Qui Gon chuckled again before putting a stop to these answers by asking "But how did the last one come to need replacing?"

Elysabeth sighed and shut her eyes, concentrating hard. "I... there was a fight, you were escaping from a planet called Naboo, there were droids, the shields went down, R2-D2 fixed them but the hyperdrive was damaged and you couldn't jump to Coruscant." She opened her eyes, "It's not clear like usual, it's jumbled, like memories when you remember what happened but you don't remember what it was like to be there. Things were moving too fast now you only remember facts."

There was another pause, broken this time by Padmé. "How...how could you know that? I haven't spoken about Naboo." She looked meaningfully at Qui-Gon. "Neither have I" he assured her, they both turned to look at the Gungan, "Jar Jar?" The look on Jar Jar's face was enough to make Elysabeth laugh but she bit back her reaction. "Mesa done nutten!" The Gungan insisted.

There was another silence s Qui-Gon appeared to gather his thoughts. "Do you think you could find out what's happening on Naboo right now?" he asked eventually.

Elysabeth considered for a while. "I don't know, I've never tried anything like that before, but I could give it a go."

She closed her eyes and gathered what she knew about Naboo, which wasn't much; a name and that these people had come from there and she suspected Padmé and Jar Jar were native to Naboo; she also suspected it was the beautiful green and blue planet she had seen in her dream. Then she willed herself to see what was there now.

_Slowly a picture came to her mind, appearing slowly, as if out of a fog. She saw a large open paved area dotted with fountains and surrounded by a canal. There were droids marching around the perimeter of the plaza, these were followed by a sleek tank, it, like the droids, looked as insubstantial as any of the droids Elysabeth had ever seen on Tatooine, but these were designed that way and looked clean and new. Something told her that the droids should not be a part of this scene, there should be people, children laughing and playing, but the plaza was bare. There was an air of sadness as if the place itself knew something was wrong. _

_This image faded and out of the fog another slowly materialised. Elysabeth's heart leapt; there were people! Her exuberance vanished as quickly as it had come as she realised that they were huddled together and looked scared and hungry. She noticed that the city was gone, the buildings here were smaller and less grand, they were set to a backdrop of mountains, and looking around Elysabeth could tell there were many more people than could possibly live in this small town. Elysabeth felt her anger flare, as she caught sight of more droids, she couldn't see any tanks, but the people were still afraid, and it angered Elysabeth. _

_The scene dissolved again and when her surroundings had solidified again, Elysabeth found herself indoors. The corridor she was standing in was large and grand with columns of stone set into the walls and paned windows set at regular intervals along the wall to her right ensure that the corridor was well lit. Two creatures were hurrying towards her and conversing, apparently unaware of her presence. They had grey skin and large flat faces with orange eyes. _

_One, the less well dressed of the two, was speaking. "What if this Lord Maul finds the Queen and returns here with her?" He sounded afraid and the other replied in a sharp tone that told Elysabeth he was just as scared._

_Well, of course he will! What else will he do with her? And we still need her to sign the treaty, which is why Lord Sidious has sent him to search for her." _

_There was a short pause before the first spoke again. "We should never have made this deal. Lord Maul will be coming here and we shall have to deal with a Sith Lord. It was foolish to have agreed to this in the first place!"_

The image faded and Elysabeth opened her eye's to find everyone looking at her. "Naboo is... beautiful" She murmured softly to herself, tears in her eyes.

"I saw a plaza with fountains, and a canal running around it. There should have been people, but there were droids and a tank.

Then I saw a village in the mountains, there were people, too many people and they were scared and hungry, there were droids here too.

Then I saw a corridor, big and grand, like nothing I've ever seen. There were tall aliens with grey skin and horrible bulbous eyes, two of them. They said someone called Lord Maul was looking for the Queen and when he found her he would take her back there so she could sign the treaty. They said he was a Sith Lord sent by Lord Sidious and they seemed very afraid."

She stopped talking and looked around; Padmé looked terrified, Anakin and Shmi looked amazed and a little bit afraid; Elysabeth felt guilty, she had never told them she could do these things, Jar Jar hadn't been listening and was attacking a piece of fruit and Qui-Gon seemed alarmed by what she had said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Padmé was sat in the corner of the room watching Elysabeth do her exercises.

Dinner had ended shortly after Elysabeth's vision. No one had much to say so Elysabeth had escaped to the room she shared with her mother, Padmé would also be sharing the room that night as the storm had not ceased, she had followed Elysabeth without the other girl noticing.

"Do you do this often?" She asked alerting Elysabeth to her presence for the first time.

Elysabeth sat down on the bed and prepared herself to be questioned about Naboo. "Usually I practice outside with Ani, but I practice on my own if he's tired and in here when there's a storm."

Padmé was silent for a moment. The two girls looked at each other and Elysabeth noted that they looked quite similar. They had the same pale skin and long dark curly hair, but Padmé had brown eyes and Elysabeth's were blue.

"I'm trained in self but I haven't practiced in a while. I'll fight you if you like; I'd like to see who'd win. By your style, or lack of, I don't think you've been trained, but you are good."

Elysabeth smiled, she didn't have many friends, most people weren't worth knowing let alone being friends with in her opinion, but she felt she could become good friends with this girl. "Yeah, alright. Use anything you like as a weapon, just don't break anything."

Padmé smiled back, "Probably easier said than done!"

Both girls dropped into defensive stances. Elysabeth had her hands raised in front of her face, her elbow tucked in, her knees bent and her feet a good width apart. Padmé's stance was similar and, shifting her balance onto her toes, she began to circle the older girl. Elysabeth turned to keep her in sight, watching her graceful and balanced movements, trying to get a measure of her opponent.

Deciding she wasn't going to learn any more by watching Padmé walk, she jumped forward; jabbing out at Padmé's left shoulder. Padmé's own hand shot out and grabbed Elysabeth's wrist, using her momentum to put her through and down. Elysabeth rolled and swung her leg around, sweeping Padmé's feet from under her as she herself rose to her feet.

Padmé, from her new position on the floor, swung her feet around attempting the same trick on Elysabeth, but Elysabeth jumped and Padmé merely pushed herself back to her feet before ducking a swipe at her head and spinning away to fall once more into her defensive stance.

"Good!" Elysabeth was breathing heavily, but was pleased to note that Padmé was in a similar state and that she, unlike Elysabeth, had not been practicing before hand, so if her current breathing rate was anything to go by Elysabeth could probably outlast her.

Padmé's attack caught her slightly by surprise and she was barely in time to block, she backed away and Padmé advanced; the two exchanging blows. Elysabeth knew she needed to balance things out before she hit the wall behind her. Padmé's hand jabbed towards her stomach but Elysabeth dodged sideways and hit Padmé in the back, forcing her into the wall. Padmé spun around to find Elysabeth's hand at her throat.

Both girls froze, breathing heavily. Then Padmé smiled, "It would seem I need more practice."

Elysabeth also smiled, "Perhaps, but that was far more of a challenge then fighting Anakin."

She removed her hand from Padmé's throat and both girls moved to a bed to sit down. "I'm actually trained to fight with a staff, I can fight without a weapon, but I never was very good."

Elysabeth pondered this. "I fight with whatever I can lay my hands on, the mop and the broom can be useful, but I'm not very good. We could take the heads off them and you like." She suggested hopefully. She had always wanted training but had never received any. "After we get our breath back" She added, flopping backwards and closing her eyes.

_

"Why do you want the mop and the broom, Beth?" Anakin watched in confusion as Elysabeth unscrewed the heads to leave two sticks of similar length.

"Actually, brother dearest," She explained slowly, "I'm not planning on doing the cleaning. Padmé challenged to a fight and lost, she says she's better with a staff, so I'm fetching some. She says she might be able to teach me." Elysabeth smiled; it looked as though she and Padmé could become very good friends.

"Could I watch?" Anakin asked quietly.

Elysabeth shrugged. "I don't see why not. Ask Padmé."

She turned to return to what had become the training room with her two weapons but stopped at the sound of Qui-Gon's voice. "If this is becoming a spectator sport, then may I watch as well?"

Elysabeth grinned. "I'll have to start selling tickets!" She joked. "Maybe we ought to come out here, that room is too small for an audience as well."

She headed over to the door to fetch Padmé and turned back in time to watch in amazement as the kitchen table and chairs floated over to the wall and set themselves down.

"Wizard!" The word was spoken at a murmur, but Elysabeth clearly heard her brother mutter the same thing.

_

Padmé's staff whipped around and hit her hard in the stomach. Elysabeth dropped the mop handle and doubled up, gasping for breath.

Anakin was cheering for Padmé, who looked elated at her success, but did at least ask Elysabeth if she was okay. Elysabeth nodded in reply, still unable to speak. She sat then flopped backwards trying to increase the capacity of her lungs.

Suddenly oxygen returned and after a few gasping breaths Elysabeth sat up, frowning.

"Well done." She knew she sounded bitter; it wasn't that she was upset Padmé had won; rather she was upset she had lost.

"Liz! Don't be such a sore loser!" Anakin's tone told her that the others knew she sounded bitter too.

She sighed; another explanation. She was getting fed up of explaining her world to others.

"I mean it! Well done! It's just that losing isn't an option for me, I can't afford to lose, ever."

"Well then," Qui-Gon stated, "you need to be trained."

Elysabeth snorted. "Yeah, but where am I going to get training from?" She had been through these arguments a thousand times in her head. "There's no one teaching this side of Mos Eisley and even if there were, how would I pay for it?"

Padmé was eager to help; "I could teach you what I know! It's not much but..."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, but you need to find a way off this sand ball and help the Queen, help your people." Elysabeth sighed, "There's no way for me to get any training, so I practice, and I make do without."

Elysabeth stood up and winced. "You definitely won that round" she told Padmé, before retrieving the mop handle and throwing it to Anakin."Your turn, little brother." She grinned, "No need to hold back; she'll beat you anyway, just like I do!"

Anakin turned a pretty pink colour. "I hold back for you because you're a sore loser!" He insisted, Elysabeth snorted, but said nothing more.

Padmé held the broom handle in both hands, each approximately a third of the way along; and stood with her knees bent and the staff held out diagonally in front of her. Anakin's stance was similar, but he looked awkward with the too long stick held horizontally out in front of him. Padmé swung her staff around her head, her grip shifting to one end before slamming it down towards Anakin's shoulder. Elysabeth squeaked as the mop came up to block before the two combatants pulled apart again. Padmé had left herself completely undefended during that manoeuvre Elysabeth now realised, maybe Anakin simply hadn't noticed; he hadn't even tried to hit her.

Padmé attacked again, this time swinging for the boy's knees, once again leaving herself completely open to an attack which never came.

What was Anakin thinking? That was two opportunities to attack that he had missed.

Having missed Anakin's knees as he jumped over her staff Padmé now feinted to the left before reversing the swing of her broom to connect with Anakin's side.

Anakin cried out and stumbled sideways as Padmé stood up from her fighting crouch to ask anxiously if he was okay.

"Fine" Anakin gasped, holding his side.

"Why didn't you attack her?" Elysabeth demanded.

"I..." Anakin blushed "I didn't want to hurt her."

Padmé smiled at this. "I do appreciate it Ani, but we were meant to be fighting and, as I have just proven, I won't extend the same courtesy to you."

Elysabeth grinned, laughing at her brother, "You're too much of a gentleman, Ani!"

Padmé and Anakin joined her laughter and they laughed for a long time, Anakin turned an even darker shade of pink, from laughter rather than embarrassment.

"Does he always do that or is it just for me?" Padmé asked, still giggling.

"No, just for you!" Elysabeth's smile grew even wider as she watched her brother turn yet another shade of pink. "Chuck us the broom and I'll show you that he _can_ fight!"

Anakin attacked as Elysabeth finished speaking, but she somehow managed to spin away under his staff, catch her own and bring it around to block Anakin's next attack as she finished her spin and rose up to a comfortable height.

She took a step back to gain some distance, before taking three steps forwards while feinting twice at her brother's head and striking at his shoulder. He attempted to block both feints before finally blocking the swipe at his shoulder and locking the two siblings into a battle of strength.

Elysabeth gave a mighty shove which caused her nine year old and rather short brother to stumble backwards. She advanced, striking high and low before she took a step to far and was suddenly on the defensive as her brother rained blows at her.

She wasn't focusing on his weapon, she never did; she simply allowed her hands to move her weapon to block his and attack when she could. She was looking at his face, with its almost comical look of concentration, but she wasn't really watching that either. She never used her mind in a fight; it only slowed her down.

Suddenly there was an opening and the end of Elysabeth's staff flashed in and flicked the mop out of Anakin's hands.

They froze, breathing heavily as their audience began to cheer.

"Yes, yes, very good, but time for bed" their mother's voice broke the spell and they grinned at each other before moving to do as she said.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The day before the Boonta Eve Classic, the biggest Podrace of the year, and Anakin was quiet and contemplative during breakfast. Elysabeth knew what was bothering him, he wouldn't be racing and she knew that nothing she said would cheer him up, so she remained silent.

Padmé however, was unaware of the big race fast approaching and asked him what was wrong.

"There's a big race tomorrow and I'm not in it." Anakin explained unhappily. "I'd need a Pod for a start."

"I thought you said you were building one?" Padmé replied, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, but Watto doesn't know about it, and besides; there's an entry fee too."

Padmé was trying to cheer him up but she wasn't succeeding. Elysabeth decided to leave her be, nothing short of being entered in the race would cheer Anakin up. Although if he could be entered the prize money would more than pay for a T-14 hyperdrive motivator and any other parts their new friends might need.

"True, but how do you suggest entering him?" Qui-Gon spoke up for the first time since he'd said good morning, drawing curious stares from everyone at the table, which had returned to the middle of the room.

Elysabeth realised he must have read her thoughts again, but decided not to pick him up on it and turned instead to considering his question.

"Well, if Watto thinks the Pod is yours he might let Anakin race it for you, but he'd want to split the winnings and then there wouldn't be enough for all the parts you need. And, of course, the plan dopes depend on Anakin actually winning-"

She was interrupted by Anakin's indignant voice, "I can win, my Podracer is better than Watto's, it's the fastest ever! I can defiantly win with it!"

Shmi, meanwhile, had realised what Elysabeth was suggesting and was now eager to prevent it. "I don't want you to race Ani! It's awful. I die every time Watto makes you do it, every time!"

Anakin bit his lip. "But Mum I love it!" He gestured at Qui-Gon "And they need my help. They're in trouble. The prize money would more than pay for the parts they need."

Qui-Gon attempted to put a stop to the argument before it got out of hand. "Your mother's right. Let's drop the matter." He held Anakin's gaze for a moment before turning to Shmi. "Do you know anyone friendly to the Republic who might help us?"

Shmi paused, but Elysabeth already knew the answer, "There's no one" She said firmly.

She knew her brother was unlikely to back down now and judged that she had said enough. "We have to help them, Mum." Anakin insisted, proving Elysabeth right. "Remember what you said? You said the biggest problem in the universe is that no one helps anyone."

Shmi sighed, "Ani, don't-"

"But you said it, Mum" Elysabeth tried to hide her smile; she could tell Anakin had already won.

"I'm sure Qui-Gon doesn't want to put your son in danger," Padmé tried to ease the tension caused by the confrontation, "We'll find another way..."

Shmi looked over at the girl and shook her head slowly. "No, Ani's right. There is no other way. I may not like it but he can help you." She paused, "He was meant to help you"

Elysabeth studied her mother's face, sometimes she said things that made Elysabeth wonder if she couldn't sense things the way Anakin and she could, but she always denied it.

"Is that a yes?" Anakin was grinning as broadly as Elysabeth had ever seen. "That is a Yes!"

_

Elysabeth led the way to Watto's shop. Anakin had already run ahead. Around them Mos Espa was already returning to normal after the sand storm, stalls and awnings being reassembled and drifts of sand being shovelled away. When they reached the shop Jar Jar sat down on a crate with his back to the wall, his eyes darting nervously about. Artoo moved over beside him, beeping softly trying in vain to assure him that all was well. Qui-Gon started into the shop followed by Elysabeth but Padmé stopped him.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked and Elysabeth could clearly see the doubt mirrored in her brown eyes. "Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know. The Queen would not approve." Elysabeth felt stung by this. She knew the stakes were high, but she had complete faith in her brother.

"The Queen does not need to know"

Elysabeth though she saw a flash of defiance in Padmé's eyes. "Well I don't approve."

Elysabeth got a distinct feeling at that moment that Padmé was not who she claimed to be, but she didn't dwell on it as she entered the shop to see Watto shouting Huttese at her brother.

"Patta go bolla!" Elysabeth winced as Watto's chubby body jerked even closer to Anakin's face with the force of his words, but the boy only blinked.

"No batta"

"Peedunkel!" This was going rather well actually, Elysabeth moved towards a display at the back of the store which had toppled over.

"Banyo, banyo!" Anakin had the last word as Qui-Gon moved forward into the light and Watto immediately wheeled about to face him.

"The boy tells me you want to sponsor him in the race tomorrow! You can't even afford parts! How can you afford to enter him in the race? Not on republic credits, I think!" He burst into raucous laughter and Elysabeth tensed, how were they going to afford to enter him in the race?

"My ship will be the entry fee." Elysabeth suddenly understood Padmé's fears. She turned slightly so she could see the group in the middle of the shop, Qui-Gon was holding out a tiny holoprojector and a sleek ship was glowing blue in miniature above it.

"Not bad, not bad. A Nubian."

"It's in good order, expect for the parts I need" Qui-Gon, she noted, was watching Watto very closely and gave him another minute to examine the tiny craft before he turned the holoprojector off and stowed it beneath his poncho.

"But what would the boy ride?" Elysabeth could hear irritation growing in Watto's voice. "He smashed up my Pod in the last race. It will take too long to fix it for the Boonta."

Elysabeth tried not to laugh as she imagined the look on Anakin's face. "That wasn't my fault! Sebulba flashed me with his port vents. I actually saved the Pod... mostly"

Watto laughed harshly "That he did! The boy is good no doubts there!" Watto had changed his tune a little since the race Elysabeth noted. "But still..."

"I have acquired a Pod in a game of chance. The fastest ever built." Elysabeth smiled with pride as Qui-Gon recognised her brother's creation.

"I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it!" Watto was joking, or at least, Elysabeth thought he was. "So, you supply the Pod and the entry fee, I supply the boy, we split the winnings... fifty-fifty, I think"

"Fifty-fifty? If it's going to be fifty-fifty, I suggest you front the cost of the entry. If we win, you keep all the winnings, minus the cost of the parts I need. If we lose, you keep my ship"

Elysabeth spun around to stare wide eyed at Qui-Gon. "_What are you doing?"_ She thought desperately.

"_I'm doing what I must, and you must trust me"_ Elysabeth's mouth dropped open at the sound of Qui-Gon's voice in her head.

"Either way, you win" This time Qui-Gon was speaking aloud and giving no indication that anything out of the ordinary had just occurred.

Watto pounded his fist into Qui-Gon's open palm. "Deal!" He turned to Anakin chuckling "Your friend makes a foolish bargain boy! Better teach him what you know about how to bargain for goods!"

_

Watto was more interested in the up coming race than in managing the shop and sent Anakin straight away to see to the Podracer with instructions to make sure it was a worthy contender. Elysabeth was released for the day not long after with similar instructions and raced home to find that the Podracer had been moved into the courtyard behind their hovel and Anakin seemed to be everywhere at once, supervising Padmé, Jar Jar, Artoo and Threepio, who were helping and still managing to do most of the work himself. Elysabeth grinned broadly then grabbed a hydrospanner and joined the fray.

Not long after, a group of Anakin's friends appeared. Anakin introduced them as Kitster, Seek, Wald and Amee, but the only one Elysabeth knew was Kitster, Anakin's best friend.

"Wow! A real astromech droid!" Kitster exclaimed, "How'd you get so lucky?"

"That's not the half of it" Elysabeth stopped working and looked up, Anakin was about to get badly teased. That was why she didn't have any friends; she was picky about what kind of people she spent time with. She thought Kitster was okay, but she disliked the rest of her brother's friends. "I'm entered in the Boonta tomorrow!" Anakin declared triumphantly.

Kitster pushed his dark hair out of his face "What? With this?"

"That piece of junk has never even been off the ground" Wald said in Huttese, nudging Amee, the young girl. "This is such a joke, Ani."

"You've been working on that thing for years" Amee observed, "It's never going to run"

No one bothered to tell her different. They could believe what they liked as far as Elysabeth was concerned.

"Come one, let's go play ball." Seek the older boy sounded bored. "Keep it up Ani, and you're going to be bug squash."

Amee, Seek and Wald ran off, laughing, but Kitster stayed behind; "What do they know?" he said quietly. Elysabeth smiled; she had been right about Kitster.

"Hey! Jar Jar!" Anakin's warning made Elysabeth look round. "Stay away from those energy binders."

The Gungan looked up guiltily, "Who, me?"

"If your hand gets caught in the beam it'll go numb for hours." Elysabeth winced; she had learned that the hard way.

Jar Jar placed his hands behind his back and bent close to the plate he had been examining. A spark leapt to his mouth and the Gungan jumped back with a yelp. "Ist numb! Ist numb!" he mumbled with his tongue hanging out. "My tongue is fat! Dat's my bigo oucho!"

Elysabeth winced again before going back to the speedometer she was working on, Anakin wouldn't care if it was accurate or not, but the race officials would. She finished and pushed the wiring out of sight, clicking the display into place as Qui-Gon approached.

"You don't even know if this thing will run, Ani." Kitster observed with a frown.

"It will." Anakin hadn't even looked up and Elysabeth smiled at his confidence as Qui-Gon spoke up.

I think it's about time we found out." He handed the boy a small cylinder, "Use this power pack. I picked it up earlier in the day. Watto has less need for it than you." He had stolen it! From Watto! How under the two suns had he managed that? Actually, on reflection, Elysabeth didn't want to know.

She called to everyone to back away as Anakin leapt into the cockpit. She was walking towards a wall which provided some shade where the others were waiting when Padmé rushed past her. She span in time to see Padmé yank Jar Jar's hand free of the afterburners a second before the engines ignited and flames erupted from them.

A huge roar rose from the Radon-Ulzer engines, building steadily in pitch before easing back into a throaty rumble.

Every one cheered and as Anakin turned the engines off again, they ran forwards, still cheering.

_

Elysabeth was watching the stars. She often did this before going to bed; it made her feel peaceful. Qui-Gon and Anakin were sat on the wall a short distance away. They hadn't noticed she was there and she felt no need or inclination to alert them to her presence.

Anakin had cut his arm at some point during the day and hadn't noticed; Qui-Gon was cleaning it, or trying to as Anakin was more interested in the stars than the gash in his arm. "I want to be the first one then, the first to see them all-ouch!"

This made Elysabeth look up. As long as his injury wasn't hurting him Elysabeth wasn't concerned, but she loved her brother and didn't like to think of him in pain.

"There, good as new." Elysabeth smiled and turned her gaze back to the stars, she trusted Qui-Gon and if he said it was alright then it was.

From inside the Hovel their mother's voice called, "Ani, bedtime!" Elysabeth shut her eyes; it wouldn't be long before it was her bedtime too.

"What are you doing?" Elysabeth opened her eyes, her curiosity winning out.

"Checking your blood for infections."

Elysabeth frowned as her brother mirrored her thoughts, "I've never seen-"

"Ani! I'm not going to tell you again!" Elysabeth knew her mother wouldn't and Anakin knew it too; he ran inside.

A voice over a comlink drew her attention. "Yes, Master?" Somehow she felt as though she shouldn't be listening to this, but she couldn't help it.

"I'm transmitting a blood sample. Run a midi-chlorian test on it." Midi-what? Elysabeth's mind was racing; how would she get out of there without Qui-Gon knowing she had been listening? He would think she'd been eavesdropping if he caught her. But maybe if she deliberately alerted him to her presence he would know that she had overheard but that she hadn't been eavesdropping. Yes, that was what she would do, but before she could move the voice on the comlink stopped her.

"Master, there must be something wrong with the sample" Elysabeth bristled, how dare the voice which she assumed was Obi-Wan's suggest such a thing.

"What do the results say, Obi-Wan?" So she was right it was Obi-Wan.

"They say the midi-chlorian count is over 20,000. No one has a count that high, not even Master Yoda." They kept mentioning this Master Yoda, Elysabeth wondered briefly who he was.

There was a silence and Elysabeth forced herself to move. She stood and approached the Jedi, who turned to look at her in surprise. "What are midi-chlorians?" Her voice sounded small and scared in the vast silence of the night.

Qui-Gon stared at her and didn't answer her question. Then he beckoned her forwards. "I need a sample of your blood too."

A confused voice came over the comlink, "Whose blood? Master, who is that girl?"

Qui-Gon released the comlink and it stayed where it was, hovering in midair. Elysabeth stared at it in wonder. "May I see your arm, please?" Elysabeth complied and extended her arm, still staring at the floating comlink.

"Master?" Obi-Wan's voice coming from the device she was staring at made her jump.

"Hello, Obi-Wan. My name's Elysabeth." She introduced herself, feeling a little silly; talking to someone she couldn't see.

The small device was silent and Elysabeth began to wonder if he'd heard her when a sharp pain in her arm made her gasp and look down. Qui-Gon had made a small cut in her arm and blood was leaking from it, Qui-Gon scrapped the blood onto a comlink chip. He reached for the antiseptic he had applied to Anakin's arm but Elysabeth pulled her arm away. "I don't need that, it'll heal by itself."

Qui-Gon looked at her, surprised by her behaviour. "But it might become infected" He insisted.

Elysabeth shook her head. "It'll be fine by the time I go to bed. I'd have to really be trying hard to get it infected in that time."

It was Qui-Gon's turn to shake his head. "No cut heals that fast, not even one that small."

"Mine do." Elysabeth informed him bluntly.

Qui-Gon shrugged and switched the chip in the comlink for the one with Elysabeth's blood on it. "Run a midi-chlorian test on this sample too." He instructed his Padawan.

There was a lengthy pause before Obi-Wan's tired and confused voice issued from the device now held in Qui-Gon's hand. "Maybe there's something wrong with the equipment Master. This one says 19,950, also impossibly high."

Qui-Gon examined Elysabeth curiously. "I don't think there's anything wrong with the equipment" He said quietly. "Elysabeth, could you please describe Obi-Wan?"

Elysabeth stared at him; why _did_ he ask such strange things? Then she thought hard. "I... I never saw his face, he had his back to me, but... he's shorter than you, about the same height as Mum I guess. He has brown hair, the same shade as yours, cut short with a small pony tail and a thin braid over his right shoulder. He was wearing a brown cloak with a hood, which was a little too long for him."

Qui-Gon chuckled, "You probably haven't seen the back of your head Obi-Wan, but that was a very accurate description. Elysabeth has never left Tatooine, so how would she know all of that?

There was a short pause before Obi-Wan's nervous voice came over the comlink, "She... she could have guessed"

"No," Qui-Gon was shaking his head, though Elysabeth was pretty sure Obi-Wan couldn't see him. "No, she had a dream at about the time we arrived on the Trade Federation ship, she saw us and heard everything that was said; your elusive bad feeling, that you should keep your feelings on the present, everything"

There was pause before Obi-Wan's quiet "How... how?" was heard.

"I think the answer's on the screen in front of you." There was another silence. Elysabeth began to feel uncomfortable under Qui-Gon's gaze and was actually glad when her mother called for her to go to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A soft footstep passed the door.

Everyone else was asleep, but Elysabeth recognised her brother's tread. She would give him half an hour then go and send him back to bed, if she hadn't fallen asleep herself of course. She knew why Anakin couldn't sleep, it was the same reason she couldn't sleep; tomorrow their lives would change forever. She wasn't sure quite how she knew this, but, like so much else, she didn't doubt that it was true. It was a feeling, but so certain that she was almost fearful of it.

Change was coming as unstoppable as the double sunrise that would bring it, and she feared what it would mean. She glanced at the chronometer, it was a little past midnight, she frowned; Anakin had a big race in the morning and should have been asleep by now. She didn't know if he'd had the half hour she'd told himself she would give him and she didn't care.

Quietly, so as not to disturb Padmé or Shmi, she got out of bed and padded to the door. She paused and looked back at her mother, feeling again that fear of change, and then she left the hovel, heading for the courtyard where the Podracer was waiting to be moved to the track in the morning.

The night air was cold, despite the heat of the day and Elysabeth shivered in the light smock she wore for sleeping. At first glance the courtyard was deserted apart from Artoo and Threepio, who were painting the Podracer with wide blue stripes, but a dark shadow by some spare part crates drew her eye and as she approached the recognised her brother's sleeping form.

She smiled down at him; he looked so peaceful when he slept. Elysabeth bent and gathered him into her arms, for such a short boy he was amazingly heavy. She turned and carried him indoors, making a mental note to tell her mother she was feeding him too much. Entering Anakin's room she stepped carefully around Qui-Gon, who was stretched out on the floor and snoring slightly, and placed Anakin gently on his bed.

"Sweet dreams" She whispered. He stirred slightly in his sleep, seemingly in response to her words and she smiled before kissing him lightly on the forehead and returning, as silent as a ghost, to her own bed. Maybe, she thought as she settled herself in, she would have a dream that would ease her fear of the change that was gradually creeping closer as morning approached.

_

Morning, Elysabeth awoke to find that both Shmi and Padmé were already awake. She dressed quickly and left her room in time to see Padmé enter Anakin's. She followed, thinking to check that Anakin was as she had left him. When she reached the door however, Anakin was sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

He looked at Padmé in confusion. "You were in my dream. You were leading a huge army into battle."

Padmé's voice as she answered was merry and light, dismissive in a way that irked Elysabeth. "I hope not; I hate fighting. Your mother wants you to get up now. We have to leave soon"

Anakin stood up and Padmé turned, she saw Elysabeth standing in the door. "I'm glad you're up, you were next on my list of people to drag from dreamland."

Elysabeth ignored this; still frowning she addressed Padmé in clipped tones. "Do not be so dismissive of his dream. His dreams are more cryptic than mine, but no less significant."

She turned and went to look out the back door, a clear sky promised good weather for the day's race and Artoo was finishing the detailing of the Podracer's paint. Anakin joined her and together they viewed the new day.

The sharp wheeze of an eopie brought them around to see Kitster riding towards them on the first of two of the beasts he had commandeered to help haul the Pod to the arena. Anakin waved and shouted to him, "Hook 'em up, Kitster!" He turned back to Padmé. "Where's Qui-Gon?"

The girl gestured behind her. "He left with Jar Jar for the arena. They've gone to find Watto." Anakin sprinted off, leaving Kitster and the two girls outside.

Elysabeth smiled at Padmé, "Sorry I snapped at you earlier. I'm not much of a morning person and I can get a bit short tempered in the mornings."

Padmé smiled back, "That's okay; I'm not much of a morning person either."

"Hey! Are you two going to help?" They turned to see Kitster trying to hitch up both eopies at once; they laughed and ran forwards to help.

_

Stalls were shutting as they rode through Mos Espa towards the arena. Elysabeth was riding one eopie and sat behind Kitster, Anakin and Padmé were riding the other. The two eopies were towing the engines with the Pod trailing behind followed by Shmi and the two droids. The crowds grew denser as they neared the arena, but parted to let their procession pass.

Elysabeth caught sight of Qui-Gon as they approached the hanger that served as a garage on race days and waved, he was stood by the entrance watching them approach with Watto hovering by his shoulder. Jar Jar was stood behind them, his head twisting this way and that as he tried to watch everything around him at once.

Elysabeth watched as Watto said something she couldn't hear to Qui-Gon and Qui-Gon crossed his arms as he replied, Watto shook his head. What where they talking about? If only she could hear what they were saying. Watto reached into his pocket and withdrew an item that Elysabeth couldn't see at that distance, but to her amazement she could hear his next words as he spoke them.

"We'll let fate decide. Blue, it's the children. Red, it's their mother." What under the twin suns was Watto talking about? He tossed the item, which Elysabeth guessed was a chance cube to the ground. A moment later Watto threw his hands up in anger. "You won the toss, Outlander! But you won't win the race, so it makes little difference, I think."

"We'll see" Qui-Gon's reply was calm and had a calming effect on Elysabeth too.

As the eopies drew level with the Jedi and his two companions Watto wheeled angrily away and snapped irritably at them. "Better stop your friend's betting, or I'll end up owning him too!"

"What did he mean by that?" Anakin asked as he stopped the eopie.

"I'll tell you later."

Kitster stopped his eopie next to Anakin's. "This is so wizard! I'm sure you'll do it this time, Ani!"

Elysabeth slipped off the eopie. "Do what?" Padmé's suspicious voice asked.

"Finish the race of course!" Elysabeth winced, Padmé didn't need to know that Anakin had never finished a race; she was mistrustful enough of this arrangement as it was.

"You've never even finished a race?"

Elysabeth helped Kitster off the eopie and went to help Anakin. "Well... not exactly, but Kitster's right, I will this time!"

"Of course you will." Qui-Gon agreed as Elysabeth lowered Anakin to the ground.

"Force, Anakin, you're getting heavy!"

She turned to Padmé "Don't worry, he will this time." She shrugged, "He's racing his own Pod; it'll make a big difference." Padmé took the hand Elysabeth offered and slid off the eopie, still apparently speechless.

_

The cheering of the crowd hit them like a wall of sound as they left the hanger for the start line. Elysabeth grinned; she loved this part of a race. The rest of it, when she was fearing for her brother's life, wasn't so good, but before the start was fine. Threepio was walking across the track with the other standard bearers, carrying a flag and with all of his parts showing. When they reached their designated starting position they stopped and began the final preparations before the race.

A marked increase in volume seemed impossible, but somehow the crowd managed it and Elysabeth glanced up long enough to note that Jabba and Gardulla, who was currently female, had entered the royal box. Anakin moved away to join the line of pilots facing the box and Elysabeth listened with half and ear to Jabba's speech as it rumbled out across the stadium.

"Chow baso! Tam ka chee Boonta rulee ya, kee madd ahdrudda du wundee! Welcome!" Elysabeth and Kitster finished adjusting the Pods relative position to the engines and unhooked Artoo, who had helped haul the Pod onto the starting grid. "Kubba tee. Sebulba tuta Pixelito!" The arena erupted with sound as Sebulba's supporters and those betting on him to win cheered as Jabba announced him.

One by one Jabba announced all the Pilots. Gasgano, Bdes Roor, Ben Quadinaros, Aldar Beedo, Xelbree, Mars Guo, Clegg Holdfast, Bozzie Baranta, Wan Sandage. Elysabeth and Kitster attached the Steelton cables tot eh Radon-Ulzers and tugged sharply to check they were secure before moving to attach the other ends to the Pod.

"Mawhonic tuta Hok. Teemto Pagalies tuta Moonus Mandel." Elysabeth began to wonder how many pilots there were in this race when Jabba finally boomed out "Anakin Skywalker tuta Tatooine." And Elysabeth added her voice to the cacophony. The cheering for Anakin wasn't as load as it had been for Sebulba, Gasgano or several of the others but it wasn't the quietest by a long way.

Jar Jar attempted to help Elysabeth unhitch the eopie and fell over, he jumped back up as Elysabeth handed the reins to Kitster for him to lead the beasts away and turned to Anakin to wish him luck one final time. "Tis very loony, Ani. May da Guds be kind, me friend."

Comforting, Elysabeth thought as she turned her attention to Sebulba, who had wandered over from his own Pod and was examining Anakin's with undisguised interest. Elysabeth frowned and moved to intercept. "Can I help you?"

Her coldest look coupled with her most threatening voice made even Sebulba stop and think. "Your bother won't walk away from this one, Slave scum!"

Elysabeth's frown deepened as she took a few intimidating steps closer to the Dug. "Don't count on it." Sebulba gulped and moved away, muttering curses under his breath.

Elysabeth turned back to her brother, Padmé was talking quietly to him and his face was slightly pink. Padmé moved away, fetching Jar Jar and following Shmi to a viewing platform.

Elysabeth watched Anakin approach.iong ed back to her brother, ing under his breath.r to the Dug. " stop and think. from his own Pod and was examining A There was a lot riding on the outcome of this race and it struck Elysabeth how special her brother was that it all depended on him. He stopped and squinted up at her through the suns' glare. She retained her stern look for a moment, then grinned broadly and bent to hug him.

"I have complete faith in you, Anakin Skywalker." She pulled him away to look at him, their eyes locked. "Make us proud." She whispered.

"Kaa bazza kundee da tam hdrudda!" Jabba growled as Elysabeth grinned one more time at her brother before jogging to the viewing platform where Padmé, Jar Jar and Shmi were waiting. "Let the challenge begin!"

_

Qui-Gon gave Anakin a few more words of advice before joining the others on the viewing platform just as it began to lift into position for the race. "He's fine" he assured Shmi.

"You Jedi are far too reckless" Padmé told him quietly, shaking her head "The Queen-"

"The Queen trusts my judgement, young handmaiden. Maybe you should too."

Padmé glared back at him. "You assume too much"

Elysabeth again got the feeling that Padmé was not the handmaiden that she claimed to be, that Qui-Gon believed she was. But the thought was driven from her head as the platform locked into place and everyone's eyes were drawn to the racers for the start of the race.


	8. Chapter 8

_So I apologize for the LONG delay. IC uploaded a couple of chapters a while ago, and I am only now getting my act together...we're both pretty bad at keeping on top of this...or at least, I (RA) am. So if you're still reading this (Which you should be, cause IC is an amazing writer) here's the next chapter._

_And no. We still don't own SW. Dagnamit! We do own Elysabeth though. ;-D_

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Chapter 8

The starting light flashed green and the Podracers shot away and disappeared from sight.

With the exception of two; Ben Quadinaros' Quadra-Pod had failed to start and its pit crew was crawling all over the engines, and Anakin, who had jumped forward when the race started but had stalled. Even from where she was stood Elizabeth could see him working frantically to clear the fuel lines and restart the engines. Then he was off and Elizabeth turned to peer over her mother's shoulder at the view screen which was following the leaders.

She knew there would be no mention of her brother until he caught up with the leaders and she watched Sebulba take the lead with out interest, focused on the butterflies in her stomach, which were making her feel quite ill. She closed her eyes and focused inwards, on the part of her heart and mind that was reserved for her baby brother and wished anxiously that he would be okay and that he could and would win.

She wasn't sure why this race was so important, but she could feel that it was more important than helping their friends get to Coruscant to save Naboo, she had no idea what could possibly be more important than that, but whatever it was it relied on Anakin winning.

She imagined where he was, tearing across the flats, gaining fast on the trailing racers. In her mind she saw him pass two and then leapfrog over another before disappearing into the shadows of Arch Canyon.

She opened her eyes and glanced at the view screen. Sebulba and Mawhonic were battling for the lead not far out the other side of Arch Canyon; Mawhonic looked as though he were winning.

Elizabeth shut her eyes again and pictured her brother racing out of Arch Canyon, in the distance, beyond a dozen others; she could see Sebulba and Mawhonic, the latter now pulling steadily away from Sebulba. Suddenly the split-X engines swung left into the other racer, who veered away, straight into a massive rock formation.

Elizabeth's eyes shot open as a great cry rose from the crowds. "And that was Mawhonic! Mawhonic is out of the race! And it looks like he won't be racing again!" The announcer's voices told Elizabeth what had happened before she could ask. Mawhonic had crashed. Elizabeth glanced at the view screen in her mother's hands; there was no sign of Anakin, but Elizabeth recognised Xelbree's Podracer as it began to challenge the Dug for the lead. Somewhere between the camera's it all went wrong for Xelbree and his remaining engine and Pod shattered against a cliff face as agonised shouts rose from the crowd.

On the start line Ben Quadinaros finally got his engines started. The energy binders flickered and failed and the four engines shot off and exploded harmlessly against walls and dune banks. The Pod dropped back to earth just as Sebulba's orange craft flashed by overhead. Two others followed and the three disappeared into the midday glare as Elizabeth peered in the direction they had come from, searching for her brother.

Three more racers tore past and a forth turned into the pits, his engines shaking ominously. The engines died and were restarted; sucking in a pit droid and spitting it out the exhaust in a mangled heap before Qui-Gon's voice announced Anakin's approach. "Here he comes!" Elizabeth screamed wildly with the rest of the crowd as the Podracer whipped past, Radon-Ulzers howling in fury. He seemed to her to be moving much faster than the others and she knew it was only a matter of time before he caught them.

The start of the second lap and Anakin was in 8th place, not bad Elizabeth thought to herself, not bad at all. She turned to Padmé who was watching the view screen and muttering what sounded like "Where is he? Where is he?" under her breath.

Elizabeth caught the younger girls arm, "8th place and two laps to go! He can do it! You'll see!"

Padmé looked unconvinced and turned back to the view screen. Elizabeth glanced at it to see Sebulba still alone at the head of the pack.

She closed her eyes and instantly saw her brother pass first Aldar Beedo then Clegg Holdfast before Ody Mandrell, the racer who'd stopped at the pits exploded behind him in a spectacular cartwheel of engines and Pod.

A gasp from the crowd and Elizabeth opened her eyes to see the replay of Ody Mandrell banking too hard over a sandy rise and catching an engine in the sand.

She closed her eyes again to see Teemto Pagalies explode for no apparent reason and her brother fly through the wreckage, now in 5th place. He rushed past Elan Mak and Habba Kee, 3rd place now.

Elizabeth opened her eyes; if she was right then he should be appearing on the view screens soon. Mars Guo was closing on Sebulba, but, like with Xelbree, the view switched from one camera, where Xelbree was fine, to another, where he was crashing. Elizabeth shrieked as the Pod veered into Anakin and released the binding on the Steelton cable to the right side of Anakin's Pod.

The Pod swung violently back and forth on its remaining cable before Anakin somehow steadied it and reached out with the magnetic retriever to collect the end and reattach it to his Pod. Her fear now dissipating as the danger lessened Elizabeth watched in despair as Elan Mak, Habba Kee and now Obitoki swept past, pushing him back into 5th place.

Elizabeth closed her eyes as the view screen returned to Sebulba and watched in her mind as Anakin finally succeeded in getting the cable back into its hook and sped away, the Pod now steady. He passed Obitoki easily and was closing on Habba Kee when Elan Mak tried to pass Sebulba. Fire sprayed over Mak's right engine and the racer nose dived into the sand. Habba Kee and Anakin disappeared into the cloud of grit that had been thrown up and only Anakin emerged. He was in 2nd place now and bearing down on Sebulba.

Elizabeth tensed; that was not a safe place to be. She opened her eyes in time to see both racers flash past and under the finish line to start the 3rd and final lap. Elizabeth peered anxiously at the screen as Sebulba and her brother raced across the flats to Arch Canyon. They were coming out of Arch Canyon when Anakin seemed to loose control and veered into a line of warning signs, sending them flying.

Then he jammed the thruster bars forward and leapt right over Sebulba to take the lead. Elizabeth jumped up and down, screaming in excitement. He was winning! She hugged her mother from behind and watched as, on the view screen, Anakin and Sebulba flew around the track at speeds too great for maintaining control with a mixture of fear and excitement stirring the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy.

They were on the final stretch of flats when Sebulba jumped forward, drawing his Pod up alongside Anakin and rammed his Pod into the boy's. The steering rods caught and Elizabeth cried out in dismay as she watched her brother desperately trying to pull away. Finally his steering rod snapped off, taking the main horizontal stabilizer with it. Anakin's Pod jerked away, but Sebulba's shot forwards, collapsing the towlines, sending the engines screaming out of control. One engine slammed into a piece of ancient statuary and disintegrated in flames. Then the second went, ramming into the sand and exploding in a massive fireball. The Pod skidded to a stop and Sebulba extricated himself in a shrieking fit, throwing pieces of his ruined Pod in all directions only to discover that his trousers were on fire.

Anakin's Podracer sped past and on to the finish line.

As Anakin brought the Pod to a skidding halt in the middle of the track the viewing platform began to lower. Elizabeth truly believed it had never moved slower as Anakin shut down the Radon Ulzers and climbed out, his young face aglow with the joy of victory. Kitster, Artoo and Threepio had already reached him and the rest of the crowd was hot on their heals. Elizabeth, Padmé and Jar Jar were jumping up and down hugging each other. How Qui-Gon and Shmi could be so calm Elizabeth had no idea. Finally the viewing platform reached the ground and Elizabeth, Padmé and Jar Jar burst out of the gate, pushing through the crowds to reach Anakin and grinning up at him where the crowds were carrying him on their shoulders, too happy to say a word.


	9. Chapter 9

_RA here again, and hey lookit! It's another chapter! :-) yes so we either upload in a deluge, or there's a drought. XD so enjoy. Also if you're reading this and you cannot tolerate Mary-Sues in any shape or form, I advise you abandon ship. It's not going to get any better on that front. In fact, it may well get worse. :-D _

_Also, this is still all the GENIUS work of IC. I still haven't gotten my lazy self moving on PM stuff...though I've been brainstorming for some of the other prequels... :-D_

_And now, without further babbling on my part, here's chapter nine!_

_RhiannonAmidala  
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**Chapter 9**

The people were gone.

It was only an hour later but the arena had emptied and most of the Podracers had been hauled away for storage or repair. A few pit droids were salvaging pieces of wreckage from the race but there were no other living beings present as Elysabeth, Jar Jar, Artoo and Threepio helped Anakin check the damaged racer, repairing what they could and making a list of parts that would need to be replaced.

Padmé, Qui-Gon and Shmi were watching but Elysabeth paid them no mind as she examined the place the horizontal stabilizer had once occupied. The stabilizer was fine, but the mounting would need to be replaced.

"You're a little worse for wear, Ani." Qui-Gon was kneeling beside the boy and Elysabeth had to admit that his observation was quite accurate. Anakin was filthy, with a clean patch over his eyes where his goggles had been. His jacket was torn and there was blood soaking through it from a gash on his arm. Qui-Gon wiped some dirt from the boy's face and smiled, "There, good as new." He ruffled Anakin's hair, which was already messy, and helped bind his arm.

Shmi and Padmé joined them and gave Anakin fresh kisses and hugs. Elysabeth grinned as she watched her brother go pink. Her mother smiled shaking her head. "It's so wonderful, Ani- what you've done here. You've brought hope to those who have none. I'm so very proud of you."

"We owe you everything," Padmé added, Anakin's pink blush deepened to scarlet and Elysabeth laughed before picking him up and sitting him on her shoulder like she used to when he was little.

"Hey! Put me down!" Anakin protested as she span around. She did so; he was too heavy to carry for long anyway.

"Padmé, Jar Jar, let's go" Qui-Gon's authoritative voice diminished their smiles. "We've got to get these parts back to the ship."

The group moved over to the eopies and said their goodbyes. Elysabeth knew she should feel sad, that this would be the last time she would ever see her knew friends, but she didn't, it felt more like she was saying "See you later" than "Goodbye".

Padmé and Qui-Gon mounted one eopie and Jar Jar got on the other and promptly slid off the other side. Artoo beeped encouragingly as he tried again and this time managed to stay on.

The eopies slowly followed Artoo out of the hanger, Qui-Gon called back to say that he would return the eopies by midday, Padmé and Jar Jar didn't look back at all as Elysabeth, Anakin, Shmi and Threepio waved goodbye.

_

They walked home and Elysabeth could feel happiness from her family, but something in Anakin was sad and when they reached their home Anakin took Threepio into his room and deactivated him before leaving again and Elysabeth followed.

Qui-Gon had told them they were relieved of any work at Watto's so Elysabeth simply walked beside her brother sensing that he didn't want to talk, but he didn't really want to be alone either.

Kitster joined them, then Amee and Wald and a dozen others. Anakin waved whenever his name was called and smiled, but he was quiet. As they reached the alley leading to Mos Espa Way a Rodian Elysabeth knew as Greedo blocked their path.

Greedo was a trouble maker and Elysabeth knew this would be bad even before he accused Anakin of cheating. He said that slaves couldn't win anything and that Anakin must have cheated. Anakin was on top of him so fast Elysabeth didn't see him move, he was hitting the older boy as hard and as fast as he could. Elysabeth dived forward and caught Anakin round the waist as she hissed into his ear to let her handle the little bantha dropping. She hauled him backwards and caught sight of Qui-Gon heading their way.

"Get up bantha brain. You're making the place look untidy." She was holding Anakin's shoulder tightly as the two boys glared at each other. She turned to lead her brother home and just caught what Greedo muttered as he stood up.

She let go of Anakin's shoulder and span, pinning Greedo by his neck to the wall with her boot before anyone could move.

"What was that, Slime ball?" she asked menacingly.

"What's this all about?" Qui-Gon had reached them and was eyeing Greedo with his eyebrow raised.

"Just teaching Greedo here some manners" Elysabeth replied coolly.

"Well, he isn't going to learn any from that." Qui-Gon took her elbow and Anakin's shoulder and led them away. This time Elysabeth ignored Greedo's muttered threats.

"Unfortunately," Qui-Gon sighed, "Life is full of people like Greedo. We just have to learn to tolerate them when we can't avoid them."

As they neared their home Qui-Gon reached beneath his poncho and produced a leather pouch bulging with credits, which he handed to Anakin. "These are yours," He informed the boy, "I sold the Pod, to a particularly surly and rather insistent Dug."

Anakin accepted the bag, grinning and ran to the door, Elysabeth followed and they both burst through, grinning madly.

"Mum! Mum!" Anakin called, "Guess what? Qui-Gon sold the Pod! Look at all the money we have!" He dropped the large pouch into her hands and Elysabeth laughed aloud at the startled look on her mother's face.

"Oh, my goodness! Ani, that's wonderful!"

Elysabeth whipped around to face Qui-Gon, who had followed her inside, feeling suddenly, inexplicably, afraid.

"The children have been freed." He announced.

"What?" Anakin was apparently less shacked than Elysabeth; he could still talk.

"You are no longer slaves."

"Mum? Did you hear that, Mum?" Anakin let out a whoop and jumped as high as he could.

Elysabeth began to panic. Why had he said "The _children_" are free? What about her mother? They couldn't leave her behind.

"How?" Anakin asked simply.

Qui-Gon grinned back, "Let's just say that Watto learned an important lesson about gambling."

Shmi reached out and pulled Anakin into a hug; Elysabeth crossed the room in two strides and threw her arms around the both of them, holding on desperately.

"Now you can make your dreams come true," Their mother whispered to them, "you're free."

She pulled away from the hug and turned to Qui-Gon, "Will you take them with you? Are they to become Jedi?"

Anakin beamed at this suggestion, wheeling on Qui-Gon, waiting impatiently for the answer. The Jedi glanced at Elysabeth, "Our meeting wasn't a coincidence, nothing happens by accident. You are both strong in the Force, but you may not be accepted by the council."

Each heard only what they wanted, Anakin the good, Elysabeth the bad.

"A Jedi!" Anakin gasped, "You mean we get to come with you in your starship and everything?"

"No!" Elysabeth spoke for the first time since the fight with Greedo. "We are too old to be accepted for training. You can't take us away from everything we know; from our mother to face a future of uncertainty when the likelihood is that we will have nowhere to go!"

Anakin paled at her words, "Mum?" he whispered, "She's free too isn't she?" He demanded of Qui-Gon.

"I tried to free you mother too, but Watto wouldn't have it."

"The money from selling..." He drifted off, realising it was hopeless even as Qui-Gon shook his head; "It's not nearly enough"

Shmi reached out and pulled the two of them to her. "My place is here," she spoke quietly, but loud enough to be heard by everyone present. "It's time for you to let go...to let go of me. I cannot go with you."

"Then we cannot leave you." Elysabeth whispered as Anakin said something similar.

Shmi pulled away and smiled as she looked from one to another. "You can't stop change anymore than you can stop the suns from setting. Listen to your feelings; you will know what's right."

Elysabeth did as she was told, taking a deep breath and focusing on calming her mind to hear what her feelings were saying. Her feelings told her to stay with her brother to look after him and to look out for him as she always had.

"I stay with Anakin, whatever he decides." She relayed her feelings to her mother, who gave her a look of pure gratitude and they both turned to Anakin.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Mum" Anakin looked close to tears and Elysabeth could feel a hot prickling in her own eyes as she put an arm around her brother.

Their mother nodded, "I know, I love you both. Now hurry, pack your things."

Anakin raced from the room, tears streaking down his face. Elysabeth also walked to her room, but directed her thoughts to Qui-Gon as she asked _"What if the council doesn't accept us? What will we do then?"_

The door had closed behind her and no one saw her jump as Qui-Gon's voice in her head answered her; _"Trust me. I will watch out for you."_

_

They said good bye one last time and left. Elysabeth had spent a moment when she was packing to stow her emotions away, she would save them for when she had the time to examine and experience them, so she shed no tears as she walked away from her mother, her home, her life.

They had gotten barely a dozen paces when Kitster ran to them and addressed Anakin. "Where are you going, Ani?" Anakin took a deep breath and Elysabeth sensed that explaining the situation would be a severe blow to the defences he had placed around his emotions. She also knew that Kitster was Anakin's friend, not her's, and it wasn't her place to interfere.

"We've been freed, Kitster. We're going away with Qui-Gon. On a spaceship." Kitster's mouth fell open. Anakin fished in his pocket and came out with a handful of credits, which he handed to his friend. "Here these are for you."

Kitster's voice was quiet, but grew as he continued. "Do you have to go, Ani? Do you have to? Can't you stay? Ani, You're a hero!"

Anakin swallowed and glanced from Shmi to Qui-Gon before he answered. "I...I can't."

There was a pause before Kitster accepted the credits, "Thanks for everything Ani, you're my best friend."

Elysabeth glanced at the credits in Kitster's hands and reflected that it was a good job their mother had given most of the credits to her, not Anakin. Anakin didn't know this, if he had Elysabeth was sure he would have given Kitster more.

Anakin turned to follow Qui-Gon, but stopped once more as he glanced back. He looked at Qui-Gon, then at Elysabeth then turned and raced back to his mother, crying freely now. "I can't do it, Mum, I can't." Elysabeth watched, part of her wanting to go back, the greater part knowing that if she did she wouldn't be able to leave again.

She stood and watched as her brother voiced her greatest fear; "Will I ever see you again?"

Shmi frowned, "What does your heart tell you?"

Anakin hesitated, "Yes, I guess"

Shmi smiled encouragingly, "Then we will see each other again." She hugged him one last time before pulling away. "Now go, and don't look back." She turned him around and gave him a small push. "Don't look back."

Elysabeth held out her hand as Anakin approached and he took it, brushing away his tears and fighting new ones.

Elysabeth looked back one last time and her eyes locked with her mother's. Neither said a word, but each understood the other's love and sorrow. Then Anakin pulled on her hand and she turned away.

_

Watto was grumbling about the unfairness of things and muttering thinly veiled threats, but he did sign the necessary paperwork and the detonators designed to prevent escape in both Anakin and Elysabeth were deactivated permanently.

Elysabeth looked around the shop, at the many piles of parts she had spent hours arranging and balancing. She realised she didn't care anymore; she didn't care if the displays stayed up. They could fall down and Watto would have to put up with it or arrange it himself. He never asked Shmi to do it; they didn't stay up when she did it, Elysabeth just seemed to be really good at balancing things. She accepted that it no longer mattered to her as she walked out the door and glanced back at a loud crashing sound to see that some of the more precarious piles, the ones gravity seemed to have forgotten had finally fallen. There were quite a few like that and Watto was hovering in the middle of the shop, turning around and steadily sinking as his wings beat slower and slower.

At her brother's insistence they crossed the square to Jira's fruit stall. Anakin gave her some credits too, to buy a cooling unit because he had promised to fix one for her, but had never got round to it. They left the stall quickly, Qui-Gon was impatient to get off the planet and Elysabeth too felt the need for haste. She felt as though they were being chased though she wasn't sure why.

Suddenly Qui-Gon spun around, his lightsaber activated and cutting through the air, and a droid which had been following them. Qui-Gon knelt to examine the pile of scrap.

"What is it?" Anakin sounded slightly nervous.

"A probe droid of some sort, not like anything I've seen before." Qui-Gon's voice showed concern and his words triggered something in Elysabeth's memory.

"Darth Maul is looking for the Queen!" She said urgently. "We must hurry, he'll be here soon."

She didn't know how she knew but she did and she was afraid. She ran, pulling Anakin with her in the direction they had been taking out of Mos Espa

_

"Drop!"

They were running towards the Nubian ship, Qui-Gon ahead, Elysabeth and Anakin struggling to keep up. At Qui-Gon's warning Elysabeth threw both of them face down into the sand, just as a speeder bike zoomed over head, missing them by inches.

"Run!" Elysabeth looked up at this next command and automatically began pushing herself to her feet. A man dressed in black desert garb was attacking Qui-Gon with a lightsaber! The fight turned and Elysabeth saw the attacker's face.

Yellow eyes glared maliciously out of a red and black mosaic.

Elysabeth pulled Anakin to his feet beside her and fled towards the ship. She raced up the ramp and along the corridor within until she turned a corner and collided with Padmé.

"Qui-Gon's in trouble! Darth Maul has found us!" She gasped before anyone else could get a word out.

"Who are you?" A dark skinned man standing with Padmé asked, eyeing Elysabeth and her brother suspiciously.

"They're friends!" Padmé informed him as she grabbed Elysabeth's free hand and pulled her along the corridor.

They burst onto the bridge and Padmé started firing orders at everyone there "Ric! Get us in the air! Keep the ramp open and fly low! Obi-Wan, Where's Qui-Gon? Tell Ric where to go to pick him up. Captain, with me; we're going to give Qui-Gon what cover fire we can. You two stay here." She shot over her shoulder at Elysabeth and Anakin who were standing in the middle of the cockpit with wide eyes.

"What's going on?" The man at the controls that Padmé had called Ric asked, but he was already lifting them into the air and flying low across the dunes.

"Qui-Gon's in trouble, he's being attacked by a Sith Lord!" Elysabeth explained, still out of breath.

"What?" Elysabeth recognised Obi-Wan, but the young Jedi didn't wait for an answer, turning instead to the view screen and searching the desert for his master. "There!" He pointed to a spot somewhat to port and the ship glided towards them.

Obi-Wan, Elysabeth and Anakin watched the flashing blades of the battle for a moment, before all three of them turned and raced towards the ramp. The reached it as it was closing and found Qui-Gon lying in a crumpled, exhausted heap on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Three anxious voices asked at once, "Who was he?" Obi-Wan added, alone this time, Elysabeth and Anakin already knew.

"That was Darth Maul, a Sith Apprentice who has been sent after the queen" Qui-Gon answered, he breathing returning to normal.

"What are we going to do about it?" Anakin asked, urgently.

Obi-Wan turned to the young boy and gave him a look that asked in no uncertain terms what do you mean "_we"_?

Qui-Gon saw this and smiled as he made the introductions, "Obi-Wan, this is Anakin and Elysabeth, Anakin and Elysabeth, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, my apprentice, though Obi-Wan and Elysabeth have already spoken."

Elysabeth smiled and nodded a friendly greeting. Obi-Wan did not return it; he simply glanced at her before turning to his master with a look on his face that Elysabeth could only translate as "Not again"


	10. Chapter 10

Here's chapter ten. It's all still IC's brilliance.

And sadly, we STILL don't own Star Wars :-(

* * *

Chapter 10

Cold.

It was all Elysabeth was aware of. The bone chilling cold that seeped readily through her thin desert clothing. They had left Tatooine behind several hours ago, the ship had entered its night cycle and there was nobody around to distract her from her thoughts. She missed her mother, more than she thought it was possible to miss someone.

No one they had met since boarding the ship had been anymore friendly towards them than Obi-Wan had and so she and Anakin were sitting on a bench in the same room Qui-Gon had left them in with instructions to keep an eye on Jar Jar, who was now asleep with his feet on the table and his head hanging back, every now and then he would snore loudly, but Anakin and Elysabeth ignored him. They sat in silence, huddled together against the cold, taking comfort from each other's presence.

Elysabeth didn't look up as she heard someone enter the room, but she felt Anakin shift slightly at her side. A soft blue light filled the room and a slightly garbled voice broke the silence.

"Must bow to their wishes… the death toll is catastrophic… please your majesty, you must contact me." Elysabeth looked up as the holorecording ended to see one of the handmaidens standing in front of the projector with her head bowed.

Anakin shifted again and Padmé looked around. She smiled sadly at them and crossed the room to crouch down in front of them.

"What's happening?" Anakin's voice sounded as small and miserable as Elysabeth felt, but hearing it cheered Elysabeth, because there was, even then, a good deal of Anakin's trademark curiosity in it.

"The queen is very worried." Padmé told him softly, "Her people are dying."

Elysabeth shut her eyes and shut out the sound of their voices. She didn't know for sure, but she didn't think the people were dying, it didn't feel right. She thought again about Naboo. The beautiful blue and Green planet she had seen in her dream about Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. The peaceful Plaza she had seen droids marching through. The stunning mountain ranges she had seen as a backdrop to the village full of people. The great corridor she had seen the Nemoidians scuttling along.

_The sun was bright at the horizon and the air was still and warm. Elysabeth opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in a village, a different one to before, there were no mountains and there was a strange sound; like a very old engine turning over again and again, but softer, gentler, coming from somewhere to her left. There were people here too, like in the other village. They were huddled in groups and different groups were being marched in different directions by the droids. It was sunset and the droids seemed to be directing the tired looking people indoors. _

_One boy caught Elysabeth's eye; he looked a lot like Anakin. When Elysabeth looked closer she realised that this wasn't her brother, but the boy did look a lot like him. She followed this boy through the streets and stopped when the droids led his group into a house. She cast a critical eye over the house, there was no way that there was enough room for that many people to live comfortably in such a small place. She turned away from the house, frowning slightly from the injustice of the situation and stopped short._

_There was a small enclosure behind her with a high fence she couldn't see over, but the door was open and a droid was approaching, with a body on a hoversledge before it._

_She ran closer, she didn't want to see anymore, but she knew she had to find out how many people were dying, if it was as bad as Padmé had feared then They would need to hurry to stop anymore from dying, if it wasn't then at least she could reassure Padmé and they could hurry anyway. She reached the gate just after the droid and followed it through. There were people, lying on the ground in neat rows. All were dead. Many had blaster wounds and Elysabeth suspected they had fought back against the droids. She looked quickly about, trying not to look at what she was seeing and guessed there were about a dozen people there._

Elysabeth opened her eyes. She shuddered.

"They are dying." Her voice was barely a whisper but it was loud in the very sudden silence. "The people, those who fight back against the droids, they're killed."

Padmé's voice was as quiet and Elysabeth's and it shook as she responded. "How many?"

"In total, I'm not sure. But I saw one village, there must have been a couple of thousand people there, I saw maybe a dozen dead."

"12 in a thousand? Across the whole of Naboo that could be millions!"

The pain in Elysabeth's heart was clearly mirrored in Padmé's eyes as she stared, aghast, at the older girl crouched on the bench before her.

_

"These control the thrust." Ric Olié was explaining all the controls to Anakin, and Elysabeth was half listening, her mind still on Naboo.

"And these control the direction" Anakin indicated a set of controls which, to Elysabeth, looked as though they were all the controls the ship needed, but apparently all the other's did different things as well.

"You catch on pretty quick" Neither Elysabeth nor Anakin bothered to point out that Anakin had probably sat in more cockpits from a greater variety of planets than the man now bringing their ship out of hyperspace had or ever would.

A large planet filled the viewscreen and Elysabeth focused on it, there was something odd about this planet. It was only the third planet Elysabeth had seen from space but even she could tell that the circles of light on the dark side of the planet weren't natural. She searched the planet for a break in the lights, and couldn't find one.

"That city can't possibly cover the whole planet!" Her voice was incredulous as she stared down at the planet beneath them, even the light side was a uniform shiny grey that spoke of buildings to Elysabeth.

"Yep, Coruscant is a city planet, the planet itself disappeared long ago." Ric Olié informed the amazed children. "Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there."

_

It took Elysabeth some time to identify Padmé among the other handmaidens waiting to leave the ship. They all looked the same with their orange hoods drawn up over their faces and it was only when Padmé turned and smiled at her and Anakin that Elysabeth recognised her. They were standing at the top of the ramp waiting for it to lower so they could leave the ship.

Anakin was exited about getting his first glimpse of a different planet with a veiwscreen between him and it, but Elysabeth was less so; she seriously doubted if it would look any different than it had from the cockpit.

Qui-Gon walked calmly down the corridor followed by Obi-Wan, the latter frowning slightly, and Elysabeth smiled a greeting at them, Qui-Gon returned it but Obi-Wan simply scowled at her. She studied Obi-Wan's face carefully, he was looking away from her know anyway, she had the feeling that his dislike of her and her brother wasn't their fault, she didn't see how it could be anyway, but rather it was his master's treatment of them that caused his… his what? Anger wasn't quite the right word, and frustration would have been directed at Qui-Gon, not at them. Elysabeth could sense distress in him, but that wasn't really directed at them either, what was directed at them, causing Obi-Wan's unfriendly behaviour, was more a bitterness, as if Obi-Wan blamed them for Qui-Gon's treatment of them and labelled them as the cause of his distress, it was almost, it seemed to Elysabeth as if he felt betrayed by them.

The ramp finally lowered and Elysabeth was forced to concentrate on holding on to Anakin and attempting to control his enthusiasm as they walked down the ramp behind the two Jedi. The stopped at the bottom and were greeted by a group of people, the Jedi bowed to them and Elysabeth, Anakin and Jar Jar, who had followed them down the ramp, followed suit, Artoo, of course, did not. They then stepped to the side as Queen Amidala and her retinue came forwards and also bowed to the group of men.

Elysabeth recognised one as the Supreme Chancellor Valorum, Qui-Gon had shown her a hologram of him and explained who he was and why he was important, he was likely to support their cause and want to help the people of Naboo. The other man she didn't recognise but she assumed he was the Senator for Naboo, Senator Palatine, or something like that.

"Wow! Look Liz!" Anakin's voice was hushed; something that rarely happened "We're in the sky! I can't even see the ground anywhere!" Elysabeth looked around, Anakin was right, there was no ground, no earth, leaves, trees, plants of any sort to be seen anywhere. She took note of their height and automatically glanced towards the edge of the platform and held Anakin's hand a little tighter.

The Queens group began to move away and Elysabeth started to follow, until she realised that the Jedi weren't following. She paused and glanced back, Qui-Gon gestured to her that she should go with the others then returned to his conversation with the Chancellor. She nodded and tugged Anakin's hand to get him to follow her them noticed the clumsy Gungan looking lost and took his hand too. They followed the Queens group to the edge of a platform where an airbus was waiting for them and clambered into it.

_

Jar Jar was sitting across from Elysabeth staring glumly at the ground. He was bored, and Elysabeth was too, Anakin was more annoyed than bored and was sat beside Elysabeth shooting her disgusted glances every now and then, but Elysabeth was ignoring him. He had tried to eavesdrop of the conversation the Queen was having with Senator Palpatine in the next room, Rabé had corrected Elysabeth mispronunciation of his name. Elysabeth had bade Anakin sit down that he might not be seen, he had reminded her that he hated it when she spoke like one of her novels and had been in a bad mood since, but he had sat down.

To all appearances Elysabeth had prevented Anakin from listening in on the conversation because to do so would have been rude, but in reality she just didn't want him to be caught. She was half way into the dream state she used when she wanted to know what was happening somewhere nearby. She could hear every word being spoken in the next room as though she were in the room with them.

It was a boring conversation for the most part and Elysabeth didn't really understand all of what was being said but when Anakin whined that he wanted to know what was going on Elysabeth was able to answer him.

"The Senator is telling the Queen the situation in the Senate and the best way to plead their case; they don't have many options available to them." Elysabeth sighed, "The Senator recommends calling for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum, I'm not sure what that means, but I've got a bad feeling about it. And somehow I doubt it will allow us to get aid to the Naboo quickly, we may well be left on our own this time."

Anakin stared at her, then grinned. "And you were telling me off for listening!"

Elysabeth gave her brother a stern look, "I told you off for risking getting caught."

Anakin rolled his eyes, "I wasn't going to get caught, Beth. I'm not that stupid."

Elysabeth sighed and wondered whether she should tell him that she seen one of the Handmaidens watching him through the glass in the door. She decided against it, he would find out soon enough and just then the doors opened.

The queen and one of her handmaidens swept past, the other, Eirteé, Elysabeth thought her name might be, stopped and told the three that the queen was going to prepare to meet with the Senate. They would be accompanying her and should be ready to leave. Anakin asked after Padmé, but Eirteé told him that Padmé was on an errand. Something in her voice, her eyes, the uncomfortable way she stood for just a second before shaking it off, told Elysabeth quite plainly that this was a lie.

Padmé was interesting, she clearly wasn't the handmaiden she posed as, and now they were on Coruscant they hadn't seen her once. Elysabeth had a feeling the answer was glaring her in the face, and was frustrated that she couldn't see it, but suspected she would have time to ponder the answer and even if she didn't find it, then the answer would be revealed in time. Such was the way off life, all things surfaced in the end, from secrets to lost socks.

_

The Senate building was huge. Row upon row of round boxes all around the room, from the floor many meters below to the ceiling cast in darkness that Elysabeth could barely pick out, they covered the walls of the giant room and created a pattern that Elysabeth found difficult to look at. She was grateful when she and Anakin were told to wait outside. Rabé handed Anakin a viewing screen saying that this time he wouldn't have to listen through a door. Anakin blushed and gave the handmaiden a sheepish grin before turning his attention to the screen in his hands.

Anakin stared at the viewing screen and Jar Jar peered over his shoulder, Elysabeth, disinclined to join them in staring at a very small screen fell back into her trance. There were thousands of people in that one room alone. Normally this didn't bother Elysabeth too much, but when she was in a trance the hundreds of lives seemed oppressive and she had to concentrate hard to ignore them and focus on what was happening.

Movement in the middle of the room, Elysabeth wasn't quite sure what it was but the level of noise in the vast room dropped just a notch. A voice boomed out from the central podium, which Elysabeth had no trouble hearing even without the trance, calling for order and it was slowly achieved. The oppression of a thousand consciousnesses was lessened somewhat when they all focused their attention of one point and Elysabeth saw, from every angle given by every box in the room, the central podium with the Chancellor stood in the middle looking tired but determined, surrounded by several people Elysabeth assumed were aides.

The Chancellor stepped forwards and recognised the chair from Naboo. One of the boxes detatched from the wall and floated to hover before the central podium. Elysabeth had a distinct feeling Padmé was in the box, but couldn't see the handmaiden, she added this to a list of things to consider about her new friend, before focusing on the moment; Senator Palpatine was speaking, introducing Queen Amidala of the Naboo to speak for her people.


End file.
